The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has released September trade figures recording a surplus of over R19.7 billion in October 2022, well above market forecasts of R5.3 billion.
SARS says exports increased by 10 percent between August and September 2022 with China, the United States, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands being top recipients of exports like precious metals and stones, mineral products, vehicle and transport equipment, chemical products as well as wood pulp and paper.
Bureau for Economic Research Chief Economist, Hugo Pienaar, says “On the exports side this nice increase was driven by mineral exports so this most likely refers to coal exports. So this has been an important driver of export revenue so far this year. And it seems to have again been the case in September. So that is a positive development, it means that more money is coming into the country than flowing out in terms of our trade.”
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